Learning to 'Lent' - Why you shouldn't (just) give things up...
The season of Lent remembers Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Christians often mark the season by giving up something as a means of recalling and identifying with the 40 day long fast that Jesus undertook whilst in the desert. But Lent itself isn’t actually about fasting… it’s about another ‘F’ word – formation.
Jesus’ time in the desert, much like the Israelite’s 40 years in the wilderness that he is recapitulating, is about becoming the kind of person God needs him to be. When God called Israel to be the covenant partner, they had to go through a season of learning what that looked like. They had to learn how to trust in God’s goodness, provision, protection, and ways of operating (Dt. 8). Their season of formation was a bumpy one – filled with complaint, defiance, insurrection, and other failures. Seriously, read the book of Numbers, it is a catalogue of errors!
Jesus’ time in the wilderness is somewhat less chaotic, but nonetheless significant. He too had to learn to trust in God’s goodness, provision, protection and ways of operating. But where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded.
Israel grumbled about their hunger and thirst and found different ways of trying to grasp at what they wanted on their own terms. Jesus trusted in the provision of the Lord – and accepted hunger as an uncomfortable but endurable facet of his faithfulness (cf Ex 15:22-17:7).
Despite all God had done for them through the Exodus, Israel kept demanding more ‘signs’ – wanting further proof of God’s existence and goodness (Num 14). Furthermore, they interpreted the mere hint of danger or suffering as a failure of God and their response was generally to complain rather than take refuge in their proven Saviour. Jesus, however, refused to rely on or demand such signs, and accepted that suffering didn’t mean God was absent or failing but was with him through his trouble (Ps 91:15).
Israel consistently made alliances with nations and god’s other than Yahweh as a means of protecting themselves or expanding their kingdom(s). Jesus refused to ally himself with Satan. Instead, he accepted an alternative form of Kingdom and the alternative mode of faithful ‘suffering servant’ as his approach to building it.
During his time in the wilderness, Jesus experienced the same testing scenarios that Israel had before him, but he remained faithful to Yahweh. Not only that, but he practiced the sort of faith that would be necessary for him to endure the cross: he saw that his discomfort could lead to reliance not doubt, to perseverance not grumbling, to victory not failure. Because of this, he became the Messiah God had been looking for in Israel all along.
In Lent, we have the opportunity to embrace our own formation… to reflect on who God is calling us as individuals and as a church to be, to practice choosing God’s way over our own desires, to embrace faithfulness over our own fears, and to become the covenant partners God is looking for.
However you choose to mark this season, may it be one of remembering, knowing, leaning into the goodness of God; may your faith be enhanced, your hope more secured cured, and your loving more Christ-like.
